George Eyston

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name = Captain George E.T. Eyston


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caption = Eyston with the Magic Midget
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birth_date = 1897
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death_date = 1979
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nationality = British
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occupation = Land Speed Record holder
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Captain George Edward Thomas Eyston, MC OBE (1897 - 1979) was a British racing and land speed record car driver in the 1920s and 1930s. [cite web
title=Eyston, George Edward Thomas (1897–1979)
date=Sept 2004
publisher=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press
author=Colin Dryden
url= http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101031092/
doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/31092]

His racing career began with European road races, particularly in Bugattis, with success in races such as the 1921 and 1926 French Grand Prix cite web
url=http://www.mediastorehouse.com/pictures_682688/GEORGE-EYSTON-RACING-AT-MONTLHERY.html
title=George Eyston racing at Montlhery (Commercial photo gallery)]

Later he was particularly well-known for driving supercharged MGs, such as the Magic Midget and the K3 Magnette.cite book
title=MG Sportscars
author=Malcolm Green
publisher=CLB International
date=1997
isbn=1-85833-606-6] Eyston was also a noted racer of MGs, particularly his K3 Magnette in the 1933 Isle of Man and 1934 Northern Ireland Tourist Trophy races cite journal
title=The Supercharged Magnette
date=11 August 1933
journal=The Autocar] and the Mille Migliacite journal
title=Number One
date=2 March 1934
author=Barré Lyndon
journal=The Autocar ] (both reprinted in cite book
title=MG Sports Cars
date=1979
author=compiled by Peter Garnier, from the archives of Autocar magazine
publisher=Hamlyn
isbn=0-600-36343-0] )

Always one with an eye for any obscure record that he could capture, he fitted a diesel engine from an AEC bus into a car chassis and used it to set high-speed endurance records. First in 1933 reaching 100.75 mph at Brooklands, then 106 mph in 1936. [cite web
title=Diesel record car in 1936
url=http://www.brooklandsarchives.com/Gallery_E10/target26.html
publisher=Brooklands photo archive] [cite web
title=Diesel record car in 1936
url=http://www.brooklandsarchives.com/Gallery_E10/target27.html
publisher=Brooklands photo archive] Unusually for a "racing" car, this endurance record-setter was equipped with saloon bodywork, a roof, a full windscreen and even windscreen wipers.

In 1935, he was one of the first British racers to travel to the Bonneville salt flats of Utah, with his 24 & 48 hour record-setting car Speed of the Wind.

He is best known today for land speed records set in his car Thunderbolt. cite web
title=Captain George Eyston: The Empire Club of Canada Speeches 1938-1939
url=http://www.speedace.info/george_eyston.htm (includes some images of Thunderbolt) ] Between 1937 and 1939 he set three new land speed records taking over from Malcolm Campbell's Bluebird, but was twice bettered by John Cobb. The rivalry was friendly though, and in later years Eyston, as competitions manager for Castrol, assisted with Cobb's ill-fated attempt on the water speed record in Crusader. [cite web
url=http://www.lesliefield.com/personalities/john_cobb.htm
title=John Cobb and the Crusader, reprinted from cite book
title=The World Water Speed Record
author=Leo Villa and Kevin Desmond
date=1976]

Although prominent in his day, history has rather overlooked him and he is far less well known today than the Campbell dynasty, or even John Cobb.

As well as racing, he was also an engineer and inventor, with a number of patents related to motor engineering and particularly supercharging.cite patent|GB|260804, cite patent|GB|375886, cite patent|GB|348524 "et al."] His work on developing high-power gearboxes was important for Thunderbolt, along with his invention of the Powerplus supercharger used on MGs.

He was made an OBE in 1948.

Publications

* cite book
title=Flat Out
author=G.E.T. Eyston
date=1933
publisher=John Miles foreword by Sir Malcolm Campbell
* cite book
title=Motor Racing and Record Breaking
author=G.E.T. Eyston
coauthors=Barré Lyndon
date=1935
* cite book
title=Speed on Salt
author=George Eyston
coauthors=W.F. Bradley
publisher=Batsford
date=1936

References

* cite book
title=The Fast Set
author=Charles Jennings
isbn=0349115966
publisher=Abacus
date=2005